Shanghai Daily News

A new high technology industrial park is set to open in Zhabei District by year end.

Shanghai New Wisdom Hub Industrial Park, co-founded by the Zhabei government and Jiao Tong University, is being billed as a "perfect alliance" of industry, university and scientific research.

The compact 9,400-square-meter park which is currently under construction, is being built on the site of an old factory.

Shanghai New Wisdom Hub Co Ltd which was established in April, set up the park with a registered capital of 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million) and an investment of 65 million yuan.

Xu Guozhong, director of the Shanghai Zhabei Science and Technology Committee, said the park's construction would be completed by the end of this year.

"After that, we are going to start our project of investment absorption," he said.

By 2008, park officials are hoping that the hub will be the base for 40 to 50 high-tech enterprises and also a center of industrial design, artistic creation, Web media and scientific research and development.

The New Wisdom Hub Park is not the first time that the district has collaborated with a university or college.

With many key universities such as Shanghai University located in the district, Xu said the local government realizes that the institutions are the driving force to develop the district's high technology and scientific research.

"Shanghai University has now become one of our allies and the cooperation between us is very successful," he said.

Since 2004, Shanghai University Science and Technology Park, rated as a national high-tech and industrial zone, has been a partner of the Zhabei Science and Technology Committee.

Xu said the committee had worked in close cooperation by signing a series of contracts with the university to improve the science and technology park and has achieved great accomplishments.

Last year, seven young professors from Shanghai University were assigned to work with the different departments of the Zhabei government. The scholars worked with the district's Personnel Bureau to help graduates from the university to find jobs and also recruited some as civil servants.

"We have explored a new model that combines the college's resources with the district's scientific and industrial development," Xu said.

Earlier this year, Zhabei and the university co-founded a digital intellectual property reading room. The institute has also opened many short-term training classes in human resources, management and high-tech instruction for government staff.

In addition, 30 senior honor students were given the opportunity for internships with the local government.

"We want to make the best use of the universities' resources in Zhabei," Xu said. "It's our selling point and also our advantage."